Tamara Sheffield and Maryja Mee of Salisbury boarded a train Saturday for New York City, where they got married on Sunday.

Their plans were helped along with $5,000 from the American Civil Liberties Union, which held a contest that drew 400 entries. The North Carolina pair is one of five couples living in states where marriage for same-sex couples is banned to receive the money from the ACLU.

Sheffield and Mee have been a couple since meeting in college 24 years ago and have become activists in the quest to legalize same-sex marriage in North Carolina.

The ACLU held a sendoff party before their train left Salisbury early Saturday.